An account of the life and death of Mr. Philip Henry, minister of the…

Mr. William Cook, an aged, painful, faithful Minister of Jesus Christ in Chester, finished his Course with Joy, July 4. 1684. in the midst of the cloudy and dark Day. [See Mr. Baxter's Character of him in ⟨p. 261⟩his Life, Part 3. Pag. 98.] And an honourable Account given of him by Mr. Samuel Bold, of Steeple in Dorsetshire, in a large Preface to his Book of Man's great Duty]. He was eminent for great Industry, both in public and private Work; great self-denial, mortification, and contempt of the World, and a strict adherence to his Principles in all the Turns of the Times. [He was first Minister at Wroxal in Warwick-shire; there he published two Treatises against the Anabaptists. From thence he was by the Advice of the London Ministers, removed to Ashby in Leicestershire, whence he was turned out for refusing the Engagement, and afterward settled in Chester, where he was Minister of Michael Church, 'till he was outed by the Act of Uniformity. He was an active Man for Sir George Booth, when he made that attempt to bring in the King, in 1659. for which he was brought up a Prisoner to London, and continued long in Confinement in Lambeth-house; and had not the Times turned had been tried for his Life. During the Usurpation, his frequent Prayer was; That God would pull down all usurped Power, and restore the Banished to their Right. After he was silenced by the Bartholomew Act, he continued to his Death, in a Pastoral Relation to a Society of many worthy eminent Christians in Chester; though during the heat of the Five-mile Act, he was forced to withdraw to Puddington in Wirral, where (as in Chester, 'till King Charles's Indulgence) he constantly attended on the public Ministry; and he himself preached in the Intervals. He would say sometimes to his Friends, when he was in that Retirement, that he thought what little peace and quietness there was in this World, God's People enjoyed it in their Corners. Soon after he was silenced, he was committed to the common ⟨p. 262⟩Goal of Chester for preaching in his own House; by the Mayor, at the Instigation of the then Bishop Hall. He was very indefatigable in his ministerial Labours, in which he never sought the Assistance of any other Minister; though while he had liberty, he constantly kept a public Fast in his Congregation every Month, as he did also a private Fast in his own Closet and Family every Week.

Mr. William Cook, an aged, painful, faithful Minister of Jesus Christ in Chester, finished his Course with Joy, Iuly 4. 1684. in the midst of the cloudy and dark Day. [See Mr. Baxter's Character of him in